Minimum tillage ?

Drycreek

Drycreek

Well-Known Member
image.jpeg This is the failed (for whatever reason) MRC plot. As y'all might remember, the wheat did great, the clover looked good until a month or so ago, but petered out.

I made the decision to plant IC peas and I'm a tad late what with all the rain, eye surgery, turkey hunting, etc., but I'm planting this weekend. This is a half acre plot and I have another about the same size. This is basically all I plan to disc it, because I want minimum weed seed brought to the top. I only disced this strip this morning and parked the tractor to keep the moisture intact. I plan to broadcast heavy as usual and then drag it with my homemade tire drag. If it looks like I need to, I can follow up with a cultipacker.

I think it will work, but I'd like to know what y'all think.
 
It looks about right. Tillage is bad, but you need a little bit for some soil to seed contact since you don't have enough stubble for a throw-n-mow, so the tillage that you have is about right on. But that's a Pennsylvania opinion. In PA MRC would never have petered out in the middle of may, It'd be really going to town right now. Different areas are so different in climate that advice needs to be somewhat localized, and also the difference in equipment from one guy to the next is a factor. If I had a field like that I'd be no-tilling IC peas into the stubble with no other tillage at all and they'd pop right out of the ground with soil and cover like that. Your method sounds like a good plan, and good luck with them.
 
I often spread soybeans and also wheat on fairly clean, untilled ground and lightly disked for a great stand.
 
If that was my Georgia red clay, I would say that I would broadcast my cowpeas right away, drag and then immediately cultipack, to help seal in whatever soil moisture you have. We've got some droughty conditions going on over here right now.

Dry soil planting.JPG
 
I disced and planted today. I had to make the pass pictured above and then another leveling pass with my gangs straight. I then fertilized, broadcast, and dragged with my tire drag. I'm satisfied that I'll get a decent stand unless it stops raining like it did last year. image.jpeg
 
image.jpeg Planted two more plots this morning at home. Buckwheat in both. My bow blind is just out of frame to the left at the far end of the plot. This fall I'm gonna give WINA Edge a shot. I've never been able to grow much in this plot, may be too shady. I added lime earlier this year to try to raise the ph up past the 5.7 that it was. I'm needing a rain now, although we're 10" ahead for the year it all seems to vanish when you try to grow something.
 
Drycreek said:
Planted two more plots this morning at home. Buckwheat in both. My bow blind is just out of frame to the left at the far end of the plot. This fall I'm gonna give WINA Edge a shot. I've never been able to grow much in this plot, may be too shady. I added lime earlier this year to try to raise the ph up past the 5.7 that it was. I'm needing a rain now, although we're 10" ahead for the year it all seems to vanish when you try to grow something.
Click to expand...

I'm curious to see how Edge does in your plot. I've thought it's mix of small burnet, chicory, alfalfa and sainfoin could be a real winner when it comes to attraction, but I haven't tried it yet. With alfalfa and sainfoin needing a higher pH, hopefully your soil gets into the mid-6's before fall planting.
 
DIY said:
I'm curious to see how Edge does in your plot. I've thought it's mix of small burnet, chicory, alfalfa and sainfoin could be a real winner when it comes to attraction, but I haven't tried it yet. With alfalfa and sainfoin needing a higher pH, hopefully your soil gets into the mid-6's before fall planting.
Click to expand...

I just about pulled what little hair I have out trying to choose something that might work. I've had limited success even growing something as simple as wheat in this little plot. One reason might be because it's so small. I'm anticipating the buckwheat growth and how it does. If it takes hold, maybe that will help the fall crop.
 
image.jpeg image.jpeg Day six on the IC peas in these two plots. We had 3/4" of rain last night so they should pop pretty well. These plots are bigger than they look. I have to drastically resize the pics to post them.
 
Looks like they like them. I did a 1-acre IC pea plot 2 years ago and the deer basically stared at them until Aug. Then they started browsing them, but not very much. Most of them seeded out and yellowed. I switched to Eagle soybeans the following year and they pounded them early and often.
 
That's awesome Drycreek! Never been in East TX but have hunted Throckmorton, Haskell, & the surrounding area for a # of years. Totally different looking country!
 
George said:
looks good Drycreek, cow beans planted in Iowa were always a 10 minute snack.

G
Click to expand...
Depending on deer density, it can be the same here. The first year I planted them on this place, the peas got quite a bit of growth before they were "discovered", it was a wet summer, and it took them until almost September to eat the peas back to the vine. Now that we're growing plots, more deer are hanging out, so........

We'll have way more peas next year, because I can see we're gonna need them.
 
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